Daily Archives: December 6, 2012 - 5 results

Tenants’ Rights for Victims of Natural Disasters In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, countless people were displaced from their homes. While homeowners confront destroyed houses and navigate insurance woes, renters have their own set of problems. Disputes between landlords and tenants are one of the more common legal problems to arise in the wake of a major storm. Find Out More… Cohabitation Agreements Protect Relationships More and more couples are living together without being married. For those who do, …

Lawyers.com Editor-in-Chief Larry Bodine reports on some odd-but-true cases that show crime doesn’t pay — especially when the crook’s fast moves are simply foolish moves. One criminal learned a lesson in Oklahoma: Don’t try to steal a car in the heart of rodeo country, unless you’re not afraid of a little rough justice. Another person used a gun to cut in line at a fast food drive-thru — only to discover it was a shortcut to jail. Some gang members logged onto …

If you work in Illinois, Indiana, or Wisconsin, it just got a little easier for your employer to reveal to others any health care information that you voluntarily offer up. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Nov. 20 issued an opinion in EEOC v. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, taking a narrow reading of the Americans with Disabilities Act’s confidentiality provisions that protect employees’ health information. Fake Reference Check In general, the ADA requires that employers keep medical …

If you don’t lock up your guns – or at least keep them unloaded – when you have guests, you could be sued when something goes wrong. One Vermont family is finding out just how horribly wrong things can go: They are being sued for wrongful death in the wake of an accidental shooting between two house guests, which left one of them dead. The suit alleges that the family was negligent, because the weapon involved in the incident was …

Over three years after the death of a beloved Syracuse, N.Y. high school basketball coach, Joseph Mazella, a jury decided that a doctor who prescribed Paxil and other antidepressants to him over the phone must pay $1.5 million to Mazella’s widow. Since 2007, the makers of Paxil and other antidepressants were ordered by the Food and Drug Administration to add warnings that the drugs increase suicidal thinking. Janice Mazella had just gotten out of the shower one morning when she …